Leaves
by TURDFOX
Summary: "Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end." A story about life and its infalliable ability to be exactly what we hadn't expected. R&R please. Rated M cause everyone dies.
1. Chapter 1

_Technically, I don't exist anymore. _

_That's what they told me after I was assigned to the Cry Havoc. Or at least that's what our Commanding Officer told us. Murphy was his name I think. I don't really remember much of the introduction ceremony. Most of my attention during the entire presentation was glued to the giant monitor that was present in the briefing room. Even with all the bickering going on around me and lack of any real space (seeing as the entire room was filled to above capacity with both Order of Basis Government and Expansion members) I was still able to drown the noise out. Fear does wonders I suppose._

_Fear of what? Well, that's a damn good question. We still aren't sure what it was. All we, as in the entire human race, know as of right now is that whatever those things were that caused all of this insanity virtually came out of nowhere. The entire planet of Crucible was lost in a matter of hours. Completely destroyed. Not just the cities and entire population there, but the planet itself. The spot where the planet should have been was replaced with nothingness. The entire world was just gone. What remained was a large clump of massive asteroids. One could only imagine that it was the remains of Crucible. _

_Times like these, you have to think about religion. So many of them talked about the end of days and it brings to mind sights like these. Only something like that could really end the world as we know it. Not even nuclear war could stop the human race from surviving, but this might just take the cake. These 'things' can destroy entire planets in a matter of hours. Even the ground forces didn't have a chance to send a transmission. "We're fucked." "We're totally screwed". Or so that's what they've been saying around the ship. That was if you could ignore the tension. After the recent developments on Luna there was no love lost between the two factions. Where it not for the recent attack this ship would still be docked in a neutral system. And I would still technically be alive._

_At least I don't have to fear dying anymore, right?_

"Major Allan Gregory," a distinctly monotonous female voice echoed through my cabin, "You are needed in the hangar immediately."

I opened my eyes and a dull steel gray was all I could see. My sense of balance took a moment to take hold as I sat up in the stiff cot that was provided to officers. Not much better than the typical bunks that were offered to the enlisted soldiers but it was still better. The only reason I was happy to be in an officer's bunk was the privacy offered by the room. Unlike the Lieutenants, Captains and Majors, like me, were given single bunked rooms as opposed to double bunks. I gained my footing on the floor I realized there was another reason I was uncomfortable at the moment. Under my feet, a skin tingling electric charge pulsed a dull static into my toes and heel. The ship was in warp. This meant that most everything inside your body was thrown out of whack. I've heard stories of how bad some guys got it. I've heard of migraines, nausea, throwing up, blacking out, and hell; I even heard of some poor bastard that shit himself to death.

But those thoughts were irrelevant at the moment. I was needed somewhere at the moment. And if we were in warp that meant we had to be somewhere fast. Usually ships would just stick to their Faster than Light drives for inter-system travel, saving the Warp drives for emergencies. There was something very bad happening to a lot of people. Shuddering more from the thought of encountering whatever was attacking human's out there in space, I also couldn't help but grow chilly. My bare feet against the cold metal did nothing to ease the lack of heat that ships provided. Even with the engines maxed the cold vacuum of space combined with the increased cold of warp made it an uncomfortable 45 degrees at best throughout the ship. No wonder military armor was so warm.

So I marched into the restroom of my cabin quickly, looking at the mirror over the sink and lathered my face with a thick layer of shaving cream. Hundreds of years and some things never change. Hygiene was one of those things. I shaved quickly and washed my face. My prominent nose stuck out like always due to the evidence of a clear broken bone somewhere in there. I had sparred a lot as a Private. I had short blond stubble that barely covered the top of my head, matching my bright blue eyes as if to pronounce me as the very example of what Caucasian meant. Yet, I was still quite the standard human considering everything else that had changed in the past 900 years since humanity's real turn around. I had limited modifications to my body, mostly only those that were given to every OBG marine. Enhanced muscle and bone density, cerebral implants for quicker reactions, and even some laser eye surgery to give me perfect 20/20 vision, and even with all that, I was still quite average.

Once I was done cleaning off the rest of my face and brushing my teeth I walked out into the cabin once again. Tossing aside my sleep wear I grabbed the solid black bodysuit that was standard issue for OBG armor. The material slid over my body as I fit myself into it, pulling a hood over the top of my head. It was loose fitting at first before I zipped up the chest and pressed a small button on the breast of the gear. A jolt of static jumped through my body as the wetsuit like under-armor contracted to fit my form. If I were to be shot, ideally the suit should contract to my wound and stop the bleeding. Provided it were to even penetrate the titanium alloy.

After a moment of shivering from the muscle contractions that my body underwent from the jolt of electricity, I assembled the rest of the armor. It was very plain looking to be honest, showing the lack of creativity that the OBG had for its technology. Sliding on a thick Kevlar chest plate complete with shoulder plating and a few bandoliers, I moved onto the rest of my body, slowly encasing myself in silvery white ceramic like armor. It was fairly well designed if not unimaginative. Provided great coverage for my body but hardly restricted my movements. Even if it made you look like a walking crystal. However a lot of more adaptive units used reflective armors that could mimic the natural surroundings and it was likely the suit was only reflecting the silver of the ship's hull.

"Major Allan Gregory," the voice chimed again, "You are needed in the hangar immediately."

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I responded, despite knowing that the voice would not hear me.

I threw my rather plain helmet on, resembling a 20th century hockey helmet in a way if not more ergonomic, and walked out of the room. I didn't keep any firearms in my cabin at the moment. Thinking back on the recent events of the past two months I really should. Therefore, I was forced to stall even longer as I made my way toward the aft armory. The room was primarily locked down for the most part with many weapons still locked away in storage. Either there were a lot of unarmed soldiers still wandering around or we had an overhaul of extra weaponry. I would put my money on the second option, but it at least made finding my desired gear was quite simple. Pry open a few cases, pull out the rifle and a sidearm, grab a few clips, maybe a grenade or too from the far back. All in all it took about two minutes to get what I came for.

The rifle was called an Enforcer by OBG but it had some long official name that I never took the time to remember. Despite several hundred years of scientific advancement there was little to change when it came to firearms. In terms of design the Enforcer is vaguely similar to a rifle built in the 20th century and was likely based off the very model due to its highly modular capabilities. I stripped the combat scope off the curving top of the weapon but left the extended barrel as well as leaving the weapon in burst mode. The sleek and almost organic look of the weapon conflicted with the more rigid ceramic armor I wore and I wondered who could have possibly thought they would look good when used together. Without checking the safety I slung the weapon over my back, the magnets on the armor clasping to the barrel.

Another message chimed through my helmet's radio from the ship's com-systems. I ignored the nagging voice and marched down the halls. It took a few more minutes to traverse the rest of the massive ship that was the _Cry Havoc_. It was easily one of the largest human vessels ever created, if not the largest. It was also armed to the teeth with the most advanced OBG and Expansion technology. With massive anti-material cannons lining the side of the craft and a duo of Hades Micro-Nuke launchers, the ship was completely capable of defending itself from any other human craft it could possibly encounter in the galaxy. And that was all without factoring the fleet of fighters and bombers that the hanger had in storage.

I was able to get a glimpse of a fraction of aforementioned fleet as I burst through the retracting double doors that led into the hanger. For the most part, the hanger was comparable to a horizontal bat house. Dozens of layered "shelves" stacked one atop the other, each with varied rows and slots which could house the varied types of craft at their disposal and all accessible from a large 'service lane' that ran the middle of the room. As I walked down the ground floor that also served as the main deck rectangular blocks with powerful mag-jets on each corner were being loaded all around me. Called Trilobites, they were resilient craft that flew how they were shaped, like a brick. There was a slight buzz throughout the ship as it finally dropped out of warp. If there was one thing that OBG was good at it was timing.

"Major!" a voice called out. The speaker was clearly of British or Irish descent, likely some back water farming community in the reaches of OBG space or Expansion. For all I knew it could have been his home world that was attacked by their new foe.

I snapped to a salute, turning to face the captain of the ship. He was pale and tall, well groomed and professional. In a way he was the ideal visage of a captain of the time. Though without any real conflict in recent times there was no telling whether or not he was up to the challenge. Hell, if anyone could deal with an entire planet being destroyed he would be first in line to meet them.

"At ease soldier," he said without saluting back.

Such informality was something I found a bit discouraging. The weight of uncertainty caused me to lose track of my thoughts. He could have at least spared me a moment's salute for the sake of routine, at least to take my mind off the fact that we were probably walking into a trap.

"You called me down here, sir?" I asked.

"I'm sure you already know what's going on Major," Murphy's tone was grim.

"Are _they_ attacking again, sir?"

"A planet went dark for almost three days, In the Rahlei system, Tandiko to be precise. We received a distress beacon several hours ago.

"How long until we get there?" I asked quickly.

"We have just arrived in system," my superior replied without looking to me, "Expansion forces have arrived on the far side of the planet. They have not encountered any hostiles as of yet."

Expansion, what most OBG forces called the "Consortium for the Expansion of Humanity's Values", are often referred to as 'militant hippies'. Their leaders protested how humanity strip-mined so many planets and destroyed countless ecosystems. But what could you do to stop it? Humanity was growing even more rapidly than it was during the turbulent 21st century and finding inhabitable worlds fast enough to accommodate the influx of new life. Many of Sol's space stations were already becoming over-inhabited as living in the home system was something of a social status.

"Major Gregory?" the Captain broke my train of thought, "Are you ready to go to ground?"

"Yes-sir," I snapped my body rigid and regained my composure, "What are my orders?"

"We don't have orders here. Just do whatever you can to contain the situation."

"Sir?" I swallowed before continuing, "All-due respect, but what exactly is the situation?"

The Captain rubbed his eyes before finally turning to face me. I could now better assess his features and I understood why he was so short with me. Stress and uncertainty had twisted his expression into one of iciness and indifference, the innumerable responsibilities he faced a burden too great for any man to take on. I immediately regret my decision to pry.

"We have no contact with anyone on the planet, assume a hostile invasion," was the only response I got, "now gather your men and get down there."

I snapped another salute and turned, glancing over my shoulder once to see that the captain was also moving on. Gather my men and get down there. 'A descent in the dark', something that hasn't been done in hundreds of years, was what many marines referred to the fearful operation of landing on a foreign planet without intelligence. It wasn't often for many recruits to be familiar with the operation as modern technology made a descent into darkness outdated. But the old dogs like me and the captain knew all too well about how those operations went; back when humanity was still in its space travel infancy and scanning worlds was something that many expeditions couldn't afford. So landing blind on a planet's surface with only relative knowledge of the environment was a typical thing in the 2600's after Earth got wiped out.

There were a lot of confidential files explaining first encounters with an alien species. The galaxy was certainly capable of producing a wide variety of different life-forms, and it was a personal interest of mine to research them. Of course anyone could find out about the plants and animals encountered they didn't tell you about the sentient beings. From time to time, expeditionary forces stumbled upon a primitive race of intelligent creatures. Not unlike dolphins of the early 21st century, the immediate response was to attempt communication with them. Of course this was only a lie when it came to interplanetary life. The dolphins inexplicably died of plague several decades after their civilization began to develop. Many blamed the residual pollution from the 20th century and the adaptation to cleaner energy and lifestyles blossomed. All in all, their extinction was a sad but necessary evil for humanity to advance.

This was not the case for the other sentient races that humanity encountered over the next millennia. More often than not entire civilizations were wiped out by humanities encroaching influence. Worse there were also reports that some species were enslaved by humans and forced to work to destroy their home world. I never looked into those accusations. I don't think I have the heart to know whether or not humanity was actually capable of such horrific acts. Maybe I just didn't want to accept what I already knew.

Never before had humans encountered anything more than simple tool makers or even moderately intelligent pack creatures. But full blown space invaders? That was just a concept portrayed in media, still. Nobody really knew what another space faring race would be like when we encountered them. When it came to possible alien motives, the good old films from the mid 20th century had just as much relevance as the newest ones. It was reasonably heartbreaking from my point of view. Now I had to kill the very thing I found interesting my whole life.

Soon enough my feet brought me to a Trilobite. TeeBee-17 to be exact. It was the ship my squad was assigned to before we even boarded the Cry Havoc back in Sol a month ago when the OBG first started recruiting. Only the best were selected from their various fields of work. Though I had no outstanding achievements on my record worth mentioning I was a good soldier. I dotted my 'I's and crossed my 'T's. In retrospect maybe I should have done something more productive with my life.

"All right boys," I gained the attention of two or three marines in my squad, "Orders from headquarters just came in. We're dropping in the dark."

The phrase alone caused half the squad to turn and look to me. I gave them a cold and harsh gaze back, clearing my throat instinctually. Some of the younger men were still gathering up their gear, the archaic term passing right over their heads. I felt bad for them. Considering the level of threat we were facing I found it difficult to make the brevity of the situation more tangible.

"Get your gear stowed, Marines! I want boots on the ground twenty minutes ago," I barked, slapping a younger boy on the back of the head to get him moving faster, "we are on a schedule and E.T. does not appreciate tardiness."

The boy moved faster and a few others zipped their go-bags and threw them over their shoulders. I clasped a bandolier around my torso and waist and decided to forgo any further gear. Something in my gut told me fifty pounds of equipment wasn't a good idea.

"Sir? If I may?" a sergeant, likely my second in command, spoke up.

"Speak freely, sergeant."

"You said E.T., Sir. Are you talking about… aliens?" the man seemed skeptical. Honestly I couldn't blame him. Not many people believed in aliens even now. At least none as technologically advanced as humanity.

"What do you think?"

The brusque man's jaw stammered, evidence that his words left him. A few of the other men were now staring intensely in my direction, and a mixture of fear and anxiety washed over my squad. I stared hard back at them as best I could but let's be honest here, I wasn't the best example of courageous in the first place. I was smart enough to get this far, but I haven't been in real combat in a few years.

"I think we're going to be talking about this one for a while boys," was the best I could manage.

I forced out a dry and likely all too loud laugh before climbing into the open shell of the Trilobite. It was part of why the ship was called as such, as it might have looked like legs sticking out of a strange insect from above. The walls of the craft folded up in an ovular shape with supports running vertically at three points along the rectangular hull.

Two of my squad climbed aboard from the opposite side, facing me with grim expressions. Feeling doubtful for the mission's outcome, I turned to face around the hangar. Many of the ships stored above were still inactive, meaning most of the craft was absent. I couldn't imagine why but those squads on the ground floor were at least more talkative than mine. Maybe the other squad leaders knew less than me. After all, I would be the commanding officer for the entire operation. At least the operation that they told me about. Somehow I felt like there were a lot of people being kept in the dark. Trying not to think why, I gazed out around the deck.

Before I could really do more than grasp the size of the hangar, and how there was strangely little activity, the ship rumbled beneath my feet. My gut twisted into a knot as the doors of the vessel hissed and began to fold down. The light of the hangar faded and was replaced with the red glow of the interior lights. For the first time in the entire day, I felt true dread for what we were going to be facing. I stared at the wall, hoping that my squad wasn't looking to me for emotional support.

It felt like I had just boarded a one way trip and there was no getting off.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I could barely stay standing while the Trilobite flew down towards the surface of Tandiko. Rocketing down towards the planet the ship was more falling than flying. Another patch of turbulence sent me swaying back and forth and I was forced to hold onto supports less I want to be sent tumbling towards the rear of the craft. Although the ship was heavily armored and could withstand a hellish beating, there was no love lost for those who rode in the compartment when it came to comfort. The ship was designed around the concept of entering and exiting the atmosphere and was barely sporting even wings for the most part. It was pure thrust that lifted the heavy ship off the ground. A marvel in a way, considering the amount of power the ship could put out with such a small engine. The mag-jets as they were called were like miniature jet engines that put out three times as much thrust as the most powerful helicopter rotor, and the Trilobite had four of them. It had taken decades to perfect apparently, but the craft they built was undeniably worth it.

"Sir?" a soldier spoke up. He was a younger man, a private likely though it was too dark to see in the Trilobite.

"What is it?" I replied without even a glance.

"Do you know what we're going up against?"

For the first time since leaving the Cry Havoc I spared a gaze around the interior of the ship. Everyone else in the craft now had their eyes locked on me, dozens of reflective bulbs of light all throughout the Trilobite stared back at me. There was nothing I could tell the men that would have helped ease their nerves as I could find nothing to ease my own.

"No. I do not," I turned my gaze back to the metal flap before me.

"You said something about aliens on the ship," the private continued to pry.

I looked back at the boy, "what's your name?"

"Hackworth, sir," he replied, "Private Benjamin Hackwo-"

I cut him off, "do yourself a favor and don't think too much, Hackworth. You'll be better off that way."

I hated to be so rough, but feelings weren't important at a time like this. And if Hackworth kept his questioning up there would be almost no morale left in the group by the time we landed. It was better to stamp out any curiosity the men had now. There was no telling what they'd encounter on the surface so any attempts at guessing just made the anxiety all that much worse.

"Get ready boys. ETA in five," the pilot's flooded in over the ship's onboard intercom.

"You heard him! Rifles ready, safeties off. Be ready for anything!" I barked loud to the marines.

I pulled back the adapted stock and stuffed the butt of the rifle into my shoulder. The 7.6 millimeter anti-personnel round could tear open an exposed human torso like a can opener. Nothing could take a sustained barrage of the rounds for more than three seconds without being little more than a shattered skeletal form with mutilated flesh clinging to the bones. Despite the brutality of those thoughts, it was reassuring to know I had the best assault weapon in the galaxy clutched in my hands. I could only hope it would be enough.

Shortly after the pilot's announcement the Trilobite began shaking even more violently as it approached the ground and the flaps running the length of the craft began to lift. Dust billowed up into the craft forcing me to shield my eyes with one hand. Blinking profusely and nearly blind, I stepped out onto the sun parched soil. Before noticing anything else I felt the heat of the sun. While it might have been October on Earth (though it mattered little considering the whole planet was now a nuclear waste) it must have been summer for Tandiko. Not even a minute on the planet and already sweat was beading down my neck from the heavy gear I wore.

After a few long steps I had put the dust cloud mostly behind me and I gazed around the surface of the planet. Much of the area had been reverted to a farming community. Waist high crops sprung up from the ground as far as the eye could see. The only notable feature visible was a large town at the opposite end of the field. It was likely a half a mile between the Landing Zone and the town. White barns rose up from the ground like massive bars of soap, as there was little else you could compare the shapes to. There were scattered silver silos among the barns with a large granary and processing plant a few hundred beyond that. The facility looked extremely out of place in the rolling plains and distant forests, the plant standing a few stories taller than any of the other buildings. I looked at it for a few seconds before turning to my squad. If I were hiding in the area, I'd use that plant as my base of operations.

"Everyone get your asses moving across this field. I want to get a foothold in that settlement. We might have company so be ready at any moment," I ordered before gazing back over the squad.

"Yes sir!" my squad replied in unison.

The roar of our craft's engines died as it rose into the sky. Soon the sound was replaced by the clack of armor on armor and crops being pushed aside. Looking up to watch our craft ascend, I noticed several other silver specks falling down towards the area. All around the town and beyond I nodded in approval before pulling my rifle against my chest and set off to jogging through the tall crops. It was similar to corn, possibly just a young plant as there were no evident buds or seeds and it only just brushed your elbows as you walked. Looking down I watched as the once crystalline-silver armor plating was now a dull sage with brighter green lines and browns flickering all throughout. From a distance it was likely much more convincing but even up close the leaves and color were realistic to an extent. I wasn't invisible by any means, but I could have essentially disappeared had the crops been taller.

"This place is really quiet. Where did everyone go?" one of the marines spoke up.

"Maybe they're hiding," I heard Hackworth answer.

"Or dead," said another grimly.

It didn't take long to traverse the field; five minutes at most considering we had to push our way through the tall crops. The silence was eerie. Even the sound of armored men and women pushing their way through the field was muffled by the silence. So quiet it was deafening. There was a crunch of dead plants under my boot, but I couldn't hear it. There was a creaking noise from a breeze of wind picking up on the older buildings doors and windows, but I couldn't hear it. Not until I heard a low rumble in the distance did I finally become aware of these sounds.

"Sir…" one of the men called over the radio. Fear plagued his voice.

"What is it?" I snapped back quickly.

It took a moment for the man to reply, as if he were trying to put what he saw into words, "w-we found the citizens."

"Where?!"

Silence. I wasn't sure if they had encountered an enemy or if the civilians were proving difficult, but I couldn't wait. Assuming they had been in the settlement somewhere I started into a jog towards the structures. Machine sheds rose up all around with smaller electrical sheds and other conduits for monitoring the automated equipment. But considering the vast size of the farm, it likely took several dozen people to run all the tractors and machinery. And after passing by several rows of opaque white barns I could see a large group gathered around a shed. None of them seemed to be looking inside, a few were huddled around another with their backs turned.

"Over here, sir!" a man called. He was standing outside a small storage shed that was clearly showing evidence of having been broken into.

"What's the situation? Are the civilians alive?" I asked in near exasperation as I neared the shed.

"Look for yourself," he muttered with foreboding and stepped away from the door.

My brow rose, but I could start to smell something foul from within the small ovular shed. I was slow to reach for the door and pulled the handle with great trepidation. I had to applaud the soldier for identifying the scene as the civilians. The entire inside of the shed was painted with blood, shredded organs, sundered flesh, and shattered bone. Gore even dripped from the ceiling and lights, painting the room in a red glow. Scattered across the floor was crushed corpses. Bones, intestines, shredded skin, and gobs of mulched flesh and blood covered nearly every inch of the ground. I couldn't move inside without stepping on 'someone' or having red matter drip onto me from above. Even my armor turned red just from the sheer amount of it in the shack and I only stood in the doorway.

Turning back outside I held back the urge to vomit as much as long as possible. That turned out to be only a few seconds, and the breakfast I never ate was now splattered against the dull green grass. Not long after I released my stomach contents more and more reports of finding caches of mutilated corpses began springing up. It started off at only a few but by the end of the hour I counted at least twenty confirmed dead in seven separate locations. The town records stated there were only eighteen people living in this settlement. I assumed that whatever happened must have attracted nearby people and they met the same fate. Then again, it wasn't exactly easy to identify the civilians in the first place so they could have just miscounted. At this point in time I thought nothing could surprise me.

After sealing off the rooms that contained the horrific sight, I radioed to have the local populace as deceased via the OBG records. As I walked past one of the recently sealed off storage sheds something lodged into the side of the structure caught my eye. Buildings were mostly pre-constructed (as was the case with most of the farm) or assembled via massive 3D printers (typically reserved for cities). In this case it was pre-built and thus was coated in a white plastic-like shell that provided unrivaled protection from the elements and erosion as well as being nonconductive. Great for buildings exposed to dirt and the elements on a regular basis, it was far too expensive and illogical for taller and more compact structures. This also made any damage done to the siding very noticeable as it had a tendency to crack and break into dull shards of lightweight recyclable waste. Most of the wall of the gore filled shack had been shattered and a large black spot was obvious in the center. Upon investigation, a massive glob of glassy material was practically welded to the metal supports of the structure.

"Oh shit. What the hell is that?" Hackworth asked over my shoulder.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I responded.

I pulled my six inch combat knife from its sheath at my belt. With a loud DING the tip collided against the metal support of the shack, and I attempted to pry whatever it was that had adhered itself to the steel structure. The blade scratched the surface of the amorphous blob of glass before wedging itself under the edge of the strange globule. I pried at the glassy shape for a moment, grunting as it cracked and fell from the siding of the shed. It fell into the grass, leaving several pieces of cracked glass still wedged into the metal support.

"What the…?" I cut short of finishing, never really being a fan of profanity.

In the center of the glass shape was a heavy lead or similar metal orb, with the glass likely having been formed around it. There was no explaining it. Nothing like this had ever been seen or heard of before anywhere. Looking over my shoulder at the marines that had gathered around me, I could only shrug. Puzzled looks washed over the group as everyone was equally as dumbstruck as I.

"Holy shit! We have a contact!"

The sudden outburst caused me to snap my head around and yell into my headset, "report!"

"I-I just saw something sir. It was b-big! F-Fu-Fucking huge!" the speaker replied shakily.

"Is there anything like that in the planetary records?"

"Negative. We only have small mammals and reptiles. Nothing bigger than a man," a marine from my group replied.

"Oh shit there it is a…" the man started when the radio went silent.

There was nothing for a moment before three loud explosions could be heard and soon after the stutter and crack of automatic weapons sounded out on the other side of the farming settlement. Several more explosions were heard and then nothing. In a matter of seconds, it had died out already. Something horrible was happening to those men and it was likely headed towards us next. Without any other options, I tried to signal to the Cry Havoc, but was greeted with nothing but static. Communications to and from the planet were cut off. Just like with Crucible.

"Safeties off, eyes open! We have confirmed sight of contacts," I barked to the squad behind me and into my headset. I didn't know if anyone could hear me but I hoped against hope they could.

With the dozen or so men behind me I broke into a quick jog. Pulling the Enforcer rifle from my chest and up to my eyes I slid my finger up to the safety and clicked it off. I had no idea what to expect. The men were killed before they could even describe the enemy. All I knew is one thing, it was big. At least we weren't going to miss it.

I jogged into the depths of the processing plant that dominated the landscape. Large metal cylinders sprouted up from the ground around me. I imagined they were filled with grains of some sort for storage. Ahead of me was a larger facility where grain was likely processed and preservatives were added so they could be shipped off world or to one of the cities elsewhere on the planet. Overhead, various catwalks connected the large silos, hardly wide enough for a man to traverse. I considered sending a man up to scan the area but decided to call for back-up first.

"This is Major Gregory. Anyone else in the processing plant area, respond. I need some backup here," I almost whispered into my helmet.

I didn't want to gain too much attention by making any noise in case the enemy was somehow hiding behind one of the large cylinders. After all they were quite massive and could hide several men from view if need be. Even if these things were as large as

"Sir," a distinctly male voice finally responded, "this is Sergeant Hill. I've got a small squad moving in from the northwest. Is that you I see?"

I turned to see a group of seven or so armored humans moving in towards me. I took a knee and waved them over to my position. The Sergeant turned and said something inaudible to his following before the group began spreading out and moving towards me. At first I wondered if Seargeant Hill were the contact, simply because of the size of the man.

"What's the situation?" Hill asked as he approached.

He was almost the stereotypical gruff sergeant character you might see in movies. He had a grizzled face that was marred with pockmarks from combat, rough beard, large burly figure, and a deep booming voice to wrap all his features up in a neat little bow more or less. It was likely he had undergone extensive gene-therapy considering the sheer size of the man. The Enforcer in his hands seemed almost like a toy, his large hands encasing the rifle. I wouldn't doubt if he could kill a man just by closing a fist around his head.

"Unknown contacts with an unknown number somewhere in this facility," I answered.

"So we're up shit creek without a paddle?" Hill replied with a snigger.

That was one way to put it. I let out a groan and pushed off my knee to stand at my full height. I wasn't short by any means, standing at a solid six foot even. Like most of my features, I was average in height as well. But Hill was a monster of a man. He easily was six inches taller than me and almost twice my girth. It was comforting to have such an intimidating man at my side when going into an awfully FUBAR situation like this one.

"Alright everyone," Hill barked at his squad. He was louder than I had hoped to be at the moment, "we're moving into the structure. Stay sharp, we dunno know what's out there."

I wished he hadn't said anything. Being a firm believer in jinxes and other nonsensical bullshit like that, I was confident that his last sentence caused whatever it was that appeared to appear. At first I wasn't even sure what it was or if it were even alive. All I knew is that the size of the man next to me wasn't even the slightest bit comforting anymore. Emerging from its cover behind a grain silo… something revealed itself to us. At first its large brown and twisted hand wrapped around the edge of the cylinder before the rest of the creature followed. It was definitely big, just as described. There was a definitely humanoid shape somewhere in the alien's form but it was definitely not human by any means. The body of the, thing, stood at least eight if not nine feet, but even taller were the strange growths that sprouted up from its back, torso, shoulders, and neck. Now I use the words "growths" and "sprouted" for a reason, because the appendages actually looked like the branches of a plant. In fact, the entire creature seemed to be infected with bark, branches, and leaves. Where it could have likely been flesh and bone at one point, the alien creature was now covered in a brown bark-like substance. Or at least it looked like bark from where I stood. To be honest, it was as if a tree had taken root inside some other living thing and had now completely overgrown the other life form.

"What…what is that?" Hackworth stuttered from behind me.

I couldn't speak as my entire body was frozen in fear and it seemed like everyone else was in the same boat. The creature stopped as it partially the corner it had emerged from. For what felt like hours there was a standoff between us and the beast. Neither side moved an inch as they stared each other down. Green orbs glowed back at me from within the shadows of the beast's form, what I could only imagine was the creature's eyes. Groaning, the being stepped out into the open, wind catching the leaves and branches that shot up from its back as it moved. I couldn't help but stare at the leaves that grew from the twisting limbs. They were a vibrant almost neon green and had a typical teardrop shape. Growing all over the creature's body, they were trimmed or broken away on the arms and legs with most of the growth on the chest and back of the beast. Each step it took caused the branches to swoop and stagger, though strangely they did little to hinder the movement of their host.

"I-Is… Is that a t-tree?"

I heard the words though there was no way I would look to see who spoke them. There was nothing that could have broken my gaze from the creature that now started approaching us. Each step it took left scars in the grass, tearing the soft sod up with long gnarly roots that grew from the toes and ankles of the creature. Before I could react, it was now storming across the open ground towards my squad. It was going to attack.

"Open fire!" Hill roared.

Before anyone could level their rifles at the beast it brandished a glowing red, block shaped device, clutched in the vine-like tendrils of its right arm. Flashes emitted from the front of the blocky apparatus and the same deafening bangs from earlier filling the air. I fell down to my knee and took aim with my rifle when I noticed the top of the weapon was splattered with fresh blood. Then I noticed it was on my arms and shoulder as well. I glanced to my left hoping to see the comforting form of my subordinate, Sergeant Hill, but he wasn't there. In his place stood a pair of bloody legs with a ragged hunk of flesh holding them together. Scattered across the grass behind me was the remains of Hill's torso, his head and shoulders still in one piece though his chest and abdomen had been ripped in half by two of the projectiles fired by the alien's weapon. I could only imagine it had been the same glassy orbs that I had found fused to supports of the gore-shack earlier. Organs and blood painted the ground in a tapestry of gore and I felt my stomach churn in disgust. I held back the urge to vomit but failed again and I wretched over as I added my own body fluids to those already pooling around my feet.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" someone yelled as the group scattered for cover or hit the ground.

Assault rifles barked and stuttered, painting the creature with rounds. Yet, rather than tear its arms off with gunfire the bullets just lodged into the skin causing thick amber tar to ooze from the wounds. It was like actually trying to cut a tree down with gunfire. You just couldn't put enough rounds into it. While the first barrage of rounds seemed to aggravate the creature, forcing it to stagger and shield its face with its thick arms, they did little more than that. Several leaves were ripped from their branches but there was little damage done to the actual body of the alien. Now the monster was not only hostile, but also pissed. Continuing its advance, it fired several more times and the ground was soon littered with more mangled corpses.

"Everyone take cover!" I hollered as I desperately scanned over my group.

More than half were already dead, torn to shreds and reduced to red smears from the alien's strange weapon. I spotted a young private desperately trying to fight off his attacker and immediately recognized it as Hackworth. He was still standing in the center of the area but wasn't there for long as another trio of bangs sounded off. One of the rounds must have missed but the other too struck home and soon he was sent staggering back and then thrown completely off his feet, spiraling through the air like a rag-doll. Hackworth's right arm was sent spinning off in a mist of red as he landed on the ground, his torso held together by the remains of his armor while his organs left a trail from the spot he stood a second earlier. I knew it wouldn't be long before the beast turned its attention to me and I met the same fate. Jumping to my feet I stumbled while breaking into a sprint towards the nearest grain storage silo. Our enemy spotted me and opened fire. Plumes of dirt shot up around me as the enormous glassy rounds tore into the earth. Every shot caused my heart to jump and sweat bead down my face faster but I was miraculously unharmed. I almost dove into cover behind the silo as two more shots hit the metal cylinder.

"This is Major Allan Gregory," I coughed into my helmet, "I've made contact with an aggressive alien species. Please, if anyone can hear me, respond! I lost my whole squad down here!"

Peeking out from cover I leveled my rifle and looked for the alien. That was surprisingly hard considering the size of the beast. Then something smashed into the metal inches above my head and slashed open the silo. Grain poured down onto my head as I took a few seconds to register what had just happened. The monster was surprisingly agile and had already flanked around the other side of the silo. It had smashed the side of its arm into the silo, attempting to behead me though I had managed to duck just in time. Luck seemed to favor me today as I hadn't even realized the alien was there.

The beast's arm was lodged deep into the steel of the silo, a testament to alien's strength considering my rifle could barely penetrate the metal. For a brief second I got a good look at the alien. Its body seemed to have been infected with the plant growth as it welled up from cracks in the timber-like skin. Tendrils and vines that were comparable to roots wove in and out of the beasts flesh, especially near the hands and feet. Before I could gawk any longer it groaned in what I could surmise as rage, and I rolled away from the immediate reach of the beast. It broke free just in time to be greeted by a hail of gunfire as I held the trigger of my rifle and poured lead into the alien's exposed belly and chest. Wooden skin cracked and splintered as more and more amber sap oozed from the wounds. Now roaring despite any evidence of a mouth, the beast raised its arms over its head to prepare a double fisted smash down on my body.

"Major, get down!" yelled a female voice from behind me.

I was pushed to the side, falling to the ground in horror as I stared up at my would be assailant. The tree monster howled at me as it was now confronted with two humans. It was then knocked back as a shotgun slug hit it in the exposed chest. Thick sappy blood exploded from the wound and another slug hit in square in the head. The bark around its skull exploded and orange goo splattered the area as chunks of wood-like flesh were sent flying in every direction, including onto me. I was panting heavily, still in shock from the near death experience. For a second I was unsure of what had just happened when a small hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. I looked back at the figure that had just saved my life only she wasn't there anymore.

The woman screamed as finger-like vines wrapped around her head and lifted her off the ground. She howled and kicked violently, but to no avail. The nine foot monster holding her only growled in annoyance before pressing the strange weapon it was holding against her spine. Two hardly muffled explosions nearly shattered my eardrums as her body was torn in half by the shots. Organs and bone matter dropped down onto my chest and head, causing my entire armor to turn red from the sheer amount of blood. The tree creature tossed the destroyed woman's corpse aside and it hit the silo with a sickly wet smack. It stuck to the side of the building for a moment and slowly slid down, a trail of red tracing its path.

A collection of groans emanated from the beast before me, almost as if it were laughing. I backed away as quickly as my terrified body would let me, which was little more than a few timid steps. Bringing up my Enforcer I desperately opened fire into the monster. Rounds punched into its skin and staggered the beast but failed to break through its thick carapace. It hissed angrily and brought its massive knee up into my chest. The armor there buckled and I was sent flying back. I blacked out before I even hit the ground. My body was limp as it rolled countless times across the dirt before I finally came to a halt. I was lying on my stomach when I finally regained consciousness. Spitting up blood that I wasn't quite sure if it were mine, I forced myself to look up. The alien that had kicked me was gone, likely thinking me dead from the blow. I sure felt dead. Even with all the armor on my chest I could tell the kick had broken if not shattered a few of my ribs. It hurt to just lay there and breathe.

"Major Gregory," the monotonous female voice said into my helmet. At that moment, I was sure the synthesized voice of the ship was going to be the last thing I ever heard. That notion pissed me off slightly and I resolved not to die with my face in the dirt.

"What?" I grumbled, watching as the beast that hit me was now distracted with killing more active humans.

"We have received multiple distress signals from your squad. Eighty percent of ground forces are confirmed KIA. What is the situation?"

I tried to push myself up off the ground with my hands. Pain lanced through my chest, reminding me that I was still very much alive and very much injured. I was so shaken at the moment my body simply refused to function. Nearly every inch of me was covered in either red or orange blood, most of it mixing into a thick gooey tar. My chest plate was trashed and I couldn't find my gun. But somehow, I was alive. For now. I fell back to the dirt, exhaling sharply as I decided to finish my conversation first.

"We're dying," I coughed, "we need to be evac-ed, now!"

"We have reinforcements on the way, Major. Hold your ground," the female voice droned and the line was dead once again.

"A lot of good they'll do," I growled back although 'she' couldn't hear me.

Getting to my feet was enough of a chore, let alone trying to fight off these things. It seemed that the monsters were rather susceptible to playing dead as I was all but forgotten at the moment. They were also faster than they looked. In just the short period of time I was on the ground they were already chasing the remains of my squad, a mere three or four people (it was hard to tell at this distance), through the farming community. The stutter of Enforcer rifles was almost drowned out by the loud bangs of the alien's glass throwers. There had to be at least four of the monsters now, judging on the rate their weapons were firing.

I looked for my rifle and found it was tossed across the small field a few meters away. Groaning I slowly moved over and picked up the gun, only to find it was almost bent in a complete ninety degree angle from me using it to block the knee to my chest, to no avail. I tossed the weapon aside and walked over to the silo I had been hiding behind moments earlier. There the corpse of the alien sat, unmoving, its head a pulped mass of amber goo with more sap leaking from the holes in its chest. It had slumped over against the silo, the branches on its back cracking and bending under the weight of the corpse, making it appear as though the beast were lying in a bed of leaves. I ran my fingers along the bark that coated its body, feeling the familiar roughness that you would get from any regular tree. Touching the sappy blood that pooled around it I found that the amber tar was incredibly sticky, as one would expect from a tree's sap. Not until inspecting the exposed insides of the creature's skull did I find any evidence of organs. It had a brain just like any other creature, and a large one at that. Even with most of the skull having been blown away, its brain was at least the size of an entire humans head, if not bigger. I could only imagine there were similar vital appendages such as a heart and lungs inside the creature's chest cavity.

"Major Gregory, are you still alive?" a deep voice echoed through my helmet.

"Yes, who is this?" I answered, still standing over the corpse.

"Captain Thomas Kane of Power-Suit Lance 7, you needed some help?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My eyes turned to the sky as the roar of a Trilobite's engines broke the rhythmic thumps that echoed through the landscape. The rectangular craft turned to face into the center of the settlement and a large triple barreled turret came into view. It spun slowly, more cannon than machine-gun, despite how it appeared. As few glass slugs slammed into the side of the craft, adhering to the side and threatening to knock the mag-jet rotors off their hinges. In response, cracks of lighting erupted from the barrels and magnetically charged, magnesium core, tungsten charges rained down onto unseen targets. The rounds were horrifically effective both in and out of atmosphere, fired by electromagnetic energy and detonating on contact. They could rip lightly armored vehicles apart or turn humans into pink mist, so I doubted even these aliens could stand up to the cannons. A single craft descended towards the earth as two others hovered above, slag continuously pouring down towards the alien attackers.

"Major Gregory, is that you?" Captain Kane's voice rang in my ears.

"Yes, Captain," I answered into my headset.

I watched as the ship came to a hover twenty feet over the surface of the ground. Now protected from the silos and granary the ship could safely expel any passengers. The ovular troop-doors depressurized and swung open, blocking out the sun from where I was standing. Four large humanoid forms emerged from the craft simultaneously, leaping out into the sun and plummeting towards the ground. Just before striking, large thrusters on the back used for maneuvering in zero-gravity environments fired off downwards, stopping their descent for only a second but long enough to make their landing smooth. Well, smoother at least, considering each of the forms left considerable imprints in the grass.

One of the forms approached me, having the Captain's insignia etched onto each shoulder and over the left breast. I had never actually seen an active Power Suit up close until now, and certainly not four of them at once. They were almost as tall as the aliens, standing easily two feet taller than I. Completely encased in the same opaque white armor as me and the buildings, you could compare the outfit to that of a 20th century astronaut. The bulbous golden visors each armored figure sported and the square 'backpack' certainly brought the image to mind. If it weren't for the fact that each suit was heavily armored and brandished a downsized version of the Trilobite's cannon they'd be almost identical. Upon closer examination I could see a knife strapped to his chest, though it might as well have been a sword as it was oversized to compensate for the bulky armor.

"Major Gregory?" Kane questioned me as he approached.

A low hum was audible from his armor up close, each movement being preceded by the faint sounds of the internal components flexing and whirring. I fathomed at the amount of work that went into building such a device. The first power suits were originally designed for construction and manual labor in space; it also made humans incredibly more efficient as both workhorses and killing machines. Allowing a man to lift a metric ton over his head as well as being able to fight and work in vacuum and zero-gravity, there were infinite uses for such a suit beyond civilian. When military models were first issued their performance records made them staple-points in heavy combat. Two suits were just as effective as an entire squad of men if used correctly.

The golden visor rose up to reveal a heavily altered man, pale and bald with obvious scars from various cerebral implants. Veins bulged from the skin and the man probably stood a foot taller than me even without his armor to give him the extra height. Most of the men who pilot the suits had to be altered to a degree, allowing for faster reflexes and various implants for an easier synchronization with the suit. Despite all his genetic tampering and micro-chips, it was still a human inside the armor. The suit just made him ten times the man he already was, and it was likely he was a far more capable man than I would ever hope to be.

Upon Kane's face was a mixture of surprise and disgust as he waited for my response. By now, the thick coating of blood and minced flesh had dried to my armor and skin. Most of the bloody veneer was filled with small globules of flesh, organ, and bone that had clung to my armor upon contact. It was if someone had dumped a bucket of partially coagulated paint over my head. Or at least I tried to pretend that was the case. How pathetic I must have looked to the armored men, clutching the deceased woman's shotgun, red from head to toe, and trembling profusely.

"Yes?" I rasped in response.

"What happened down here?" Kane questioned.

"I… I don't even know where to start," I whimpered while shaking my head slowly, "we were ambushed by that…"

I pointed back to the crumpled corpse of the alien. By now the three other suits had gathered up behind the Captain and all their visors were now pointed directly at the crumpled tree-like shape. Nobody spoke as they just stood there, dumbstruck by the sight of the strange being slumped against the silvery cylinder. The thick amber sap that acted as the creature's blood had dried like the layer that coated me and was now a dull brown similar to that of the alien's skin. The roots had slumped down towards the ground, already drying up as leaves began to fall from the branches. It was just so strange to see such a thing. It was like a bush and a turtle had been smashed together in some horrific experiment. Only there were more of them, and they all looked just as different as one plant did from the next when it came to their growths. However the same general bipedal structure remained evident in all of them.

"Form up; we're pushing into the town. Shoot anything that moves," Captain Kane barked and his visor snapped shut.

I was tempted to call him nuts, but what other choice did I have? He was the one in the fancy armor; I just had the better paint job. My stomach turned again as I reminded myself of what had just transpired. So many people were dead and we only managed to kill one of the enemies from what I could tell. My body refused to move despite the fact that my brain urged them to. The Trilobite that had dropped off the quartet of rapidly retreating power suits was gone as well as our air support, telling me that I was stuck on Tandiko for now. I had nowhere else to go but back into the fight.

"Major, sir," the Captain said. He stopped as his group disappeared into the complex, "you had better come with us."

"It looks like I don't have much other choice," I replied still looking up to the sky.

"They're not coming back," Kane must have been referring to the Trilobites.

I replied with a grim expression under the bloody face paint, "I'm waiting for more of_ them_ to come."

Kane must not have been expecting alien reinforcements. Or at least hoping they weren't on their way already. Still, I wasn't about to argue with the guy holding the five foot cannon and decided to follow him into the mouth of hell. There were no other options available and if anything these guys might actually be able to do some damage. If anything I was just going to slow them down if the fighting got more intense. Power suits could outperform even the most genetically augmented humans; titanium would always be tougher than flesh. So why Kane even considered bringing me along was beyond me. If I were him, I would have left me behind.

Following the much larger figure into the granary, we passed more than a few crumpled red forms. We didn't find any alien bodies and my stomach dropped. Was I really that lucky? Clutching the shotgun in my hands even tighter I remembered how dangerous the weapon still was at close range. Even something this primitive was effective, though the large slug it fired likely had some factor in its lethality. Still, I would have to avoid getting shot at all before all that. One hit and I was toast. At least their weapons weren't incredibly accurate at a distance. But considering the tight formation the four armored forms were now huddled together in I was thankful and alarmed at the same time. Tall silos sprung up all around as we finally approached the opposite end of the facility. Something groaned behind one of the silos. An ambush, how predictable.

The first rounds fired were from our side, only the death rattle of the point man as branches suddenly obscured my vision and he was gone behind another silo. The creature emerged again around the other side of the metal canister. In the blink of an eye the alien tossed the oversized corpse at another of Kane's men and sent the two suits crashing to the ground. Kane dropped the turret he was carrying, bindings on the armor snapping open as the two-hundred pound weapon smashed to the dirt. Drawing the blade from the sheath on his chest, Kane charged the creature with surprising speed considering the apparent cumbersome nature of the power suit. He was met with the alien's own weapon, a single arm stopping all of Kane's strength despite the 'power' suit. The other man jumped into the fray, slamming into the tree creature and sending it staggering back as it was forced to grab onto the second suit with both arms. Before it could go any further, Kane jumped onto its shoulders and drove his blade down into the shape that seemed to be the head of the creature. It groaned, howled, recoiled abruptly, and crashed to the ground. Both of the armored men were sent flying, Kane slamming into a silo and his companion crashing to the ground just beyond the granary.

I heard the crack of earth behind me and my stupor was broken. Unable to do anything to help the four men, my helplessness was only further aggravated as another of the aliens emerged only feet from me. I heard the man still trapped beneath the other armored suit call my name but I was already in motion. My desire to live kicked in and I fell backwards. The alien's massive root infested fists smashed into the ground just inches from my feet and I scrambled to escape from the horrifying beast. It snarled at me, revealing a gaping maw as the bark split open in a triangular shape just below the glowing green orbs that I perceived as eyes. Its mouth was a sickening orange, with a deep purple tongue extending from orange gums and jagged yellow-white teeth lining the three mandibles that extended towards me. My eyes went wide and I did the only thing I could think of. My right arm shoved the barrel of the shotgun forwards and the creature bit down hard on the titanium shaft. I pulled the trigger and the gun leapt from my hand, my wrist almost broken from the kickback. Once again, I was bathed in sap and mulched wood.

The corpse gurgled and slumped over, almost crushing me as I pulled my shotgun from the creature's shattered face. A foul stench caused me to wretch as I noticed that my gun was now coated in a bubbling, charred layer of sickly brown tar. Strands of amber dangled between the barrel and the eviscerated skull of the alien, like bubble gum from your fingers after you'd pull it from your mouth. Taking my boot, I scraped as much of the goop off as I could before stuffing the stock of the wepon into my shoulder. I hoped that the weapon would still fire, but figured there was little to worry about. Weapons were built to withstand the most insane of environments. Shotguns like this could virtually be fired underwater, or inside an alien as I just proved.

"Damn, they got McMellan," the other unnamed suit pilot commented.

He pulled the corpse off his still alive squad mate and set the armored cadaver down as gingerly as he could. They were well over a thousand pounds, making the fact that the alien threw one even more intimidating. Considering I was thrown a few meters without any real effort on the alien's side, I had to imagine they weighed at least a ton or two. It would explain why they were so hard to bring down. The wood-like flesh that covered their more squishy insides was incredibly dense and heavy. Each time one of the globs of their flesh hit me it was like a slab of clay slamming into my shoulder.

"Stow the chatter. Show him some respect," Kane barked, "Major. You okay?"

"I'm alive," I responded, being the best thing I could make of the situation, "let's move."

I pulled myself to my feet with a wince. My chest flared in pain as the adrenaline began to fade from my system. I made it this far, I could make it further. Judging by the aliens' behavior thus far, it wasn't like they were going to let anyone live anyways. How I managed to live so long was beyond me. Perhaps the creature that kicked me got cocky and figured I was dead. Or it wanted me to suffer. I would have believed these things were sick that way. They didn't even give us a reason for attacking; they just started blowing up planets.

" We're not out of the woods yet," Kane reminded his men.

Finally breaking out of the shadows of the granary, the small town that accompanied the settlement was already being razed. Marines scurried about the white structures while bounding branches chased them down. I couldn't see many of the aliens, only the leafy sticks that shot up from their backs swaying to and fro as they moved behind the cover of the buildings. The aliens were smart. They stayed in cover and knew to hide their large shape from direct sight. Even with all their physical might they still preferred ambush tactics. Or at least that seemed to be the case.

I followed Kane and the two other suited men closely, essentially hiding in their shadows. We approached the town from the opposite side of the marines. Rather than strike the aliens from behind as we had hoped we ran almost head on into an even larger one. Standing several feet taller in actual height than his fellow tree beasts, reaching almost twenty feet altogether if you counted the brush growing up from his back. I presumed the alien must have been the 'leader' of the aliens we had encountered so far judging by his behavior. He seemed to be watching over the others rather than actually partaking in the fight himself. Maybe it was for the best. I'd rather have not had to piss the thing off.

"Stay down," I snapped over the short range radio, "we can't risk taking it on directly. Let me investigate."

The three remaining power suits crouched down low behind the first building we approached. Being the fool I was, I crept out near the edge of the opaque white residence. There was gravel 'road' that ran down the middle of the parallel housing structures and the alien was standing not ten meters away in the center of the street. The settlement was organized as a ten house subdivision, each house identical to the last and directly opposite of another with equal space between each building to park a car, though none were visible. Maybe some people actually managed to escape, but to where I couldn't imagine. Any other settlement or city would likely have faced the same fate as this one considering they were taking the time to attack such a small one.

Now that I had a closer view, I could see a few details that made this alien all the more different from the others. His shrubbery, as you might call it, was cleanly trimmed, unlike the uneven and more natural appearance of the past aliens I had encountered. The leaves on his body were also much larger, and there were even strange brightly colored flowers that glistened like the ocean in the sun. From this angle, the creature was actually quite breathtaking. Its skin was smoother, the bark curving and swooping with the shape of the creature's body rather than forcibly overtaking it and possessing a much lighter color than the others. I began to wonder why this creature was different than the previous ones, but considering how much larger it was I had to assume it was merely older.

My heart leapt as the creature turned to face my direction. It didn't break stance, only craned its head as if it had heard something. That was if the creatures even heard anything in the first place and didn't use some other strange sensory organ to detect us. Either way, I was able to see the front of the beast now. The wooden growths were much thicker than on the previous aliens we had encountered, encasing the body of the creature in bark-flesh armor. My legs went weak as I essentially met eyes with the being, the glowing yellow-green orbs that dominated their "face" boring into my very existence as I felt a hypnotic sensation overtake me. The alien and I stared one another down for what could have been years, it certainly felt that way. Finally, it turned and resumed watching the other tree-like monsters as they hunted down the remaining marines.

Upon retreating into the secure shadows of the small house I noticed that one of the power suits were missing. Kane was gone and I couldn't find him anywhere. Before I could ask his subordinates, one of them pointed upwards with a sausage shaped white armored finger. There I could see the Captain, standing upon the top of the small structure and leveling his cannon on the alien creature. Before I could protest the idea, Kane opened fire. I rushed to the edge of the structure again and watched as the explosive tungsten rounds rained down on the large alien. Several chunks of light-brown bark were blown off the creature's carapace but it had already spun to the right before the second and third rounds were even hitting it. I couldn't believe the alien's speed considering how large it was. Kane didn't even have time to realign his barrels before the creature was charging into the house. It leapt casually onto the structure, almost caving the roof in as it landed next to Kane. With a single arm the power suit was sent flying overhead and crashing into the earth about fifteen meters away. I fumbled for my shotgun, but the creature was far too fast.

"Kane!" one of the other suited figures called out, "DAMMIT!"

The alien jumped down onto the duo, slamming one into the earth and crushing the armor into a pancake. Red goo oozed out of the shattered armor and the man inside went silent. As a futile attempt to bring the alien down, the last suit shoulder checked the alien to put it off balance. The suit grappled with the creature, only to be thrown to the ground without much effort on the alien's end. With its back towards me, I begged my legs to move. Shakily, I took my first step, then another, and another. Before I knew what I was doing, I had jumped onto the back of the alien. Gripping onto the branches that spurted up from its spine, I noticed that the fleshy wood was quite warm to the touch. The alien growled, spinning around in an attempt to shake me off. My legs bounced hard against the unforgiving wooden growths and I struggled to keep my grip. Every time the creature moved I felt my ribs become more and more agitated and at one point I was sure I would pass out. Closing my eyes, I waited to be thrown off the alien's back.

"Gregory! Let go!"

How I was ever able to hear the words was a miracle. Releasing the branches, I was sent tumbling across the grass before coming to a stop face down. I was barely in one piece but I still managed to push myself up enough to see what had become of the alien. It was now crumpled in a puddle of orange with jagged wounds riddling its body. My eyes were the only part of me to move as I finally spotted Kane's armor standing not far from the alien corpse. His visor was shattered and several of the white coverings on his suit had been damaged or completely torn off. But he was still alive. For the first time today, I felt relieved.

"We need to get off this planet, sir!" the other suited man spoke up.

Kane didn't respond. He started limping towards me, his armor barely holding together let alone functioning. Each step was proceeded by the grinding of gears and hydraulic fluids leaking from ruptured portions of the armor.

"We have to contact the ship, sir!" the unknown man's voice was becoming more and more uneasy, "something! Anything! We can't stay here!"

"Shut up," Kane finally responded.

"No way! We're screwed man!" the other man began to grow hysterical.

"Shut up and calm down," Kane replied without breaking his gait.

"No! Fuck this! I'm getting out of here!"

The fearful power armored man turned and stomped off, heading away from me and Captain Kane. He turned the corner and disappeared from our sight and the air grew uncomfortably silent. A few seconds later, a scream could be heard even through his armor. Snarls of alien monsters followed and then nothing but CRUNCH CRUNCH SQUISH as the armored man was pulverized by tree monsters. Now alone and surrounded, me and Captain Kane stood uneasily together in the blood soaked grass.

"Gregory," Kane rasped, "My suit is trashed. There's no way I can run and fight."

I was shaking and staring down at the dirt in front of me when the Captain finally addressed me. My head jerked in his direction as if expecting him to suddenly and violently attack. Still, I managed to at least keep myself from loosing it altogether like the other man. The aliens were just waiting for us to move. I could hear them moving around on the other side of the house, the ground shook with each step they took. Now that I knew what to look for, I could hear them coming. That only made me more paranoid than I already was. Why couldn't they just come kill us already?

"Major, did you hear me?"

"What?" I snapped my head back around to face Kane.

"Run back to the granary. Call for backup. Leave me to deal with these," Kane almost ordered me.

I didn't respond. What could I say? The Captain was right. There was no way we were both going to get out of here alive. In truth, I almost didn't want to at this point. Death was beginning to look preferable to fighting. Who knows, maybe the aliens would make it quick if you asked real nice.

"You're right," I found myself saying the words that I doubted I could.

"Go." Kane said before raising his chain-gun into a ready position, "I said GO!"

My body jumped as if struck by lighting and I began jogging up the short hill back towards the tall silver silos. I spared Captain Kane one last glance as he charged off towards the aliens. Gunshots from both sides filled the air and I turned away. Even though I was exhausted and broken, I found myself running through the processing plant. Passing the two dead aliens and power suited corpse alike, I knew I was headed in the right direction. I kept running. My veins pumped acid and I felt like my lungs were about to jump right out of my broken ribcage, but I kept running. I ran as far as I could. Past the silos. Past the farming equipment and the gore filled shack. Past the fields of grain and even past the spot where I first landed on Tandiko.

Eventually I found myself alone in the woods that bordered the farming settlement. My legs gave out and I fell into the dirt on my back, hidden in the shadows of a large tree. I stared up at the softly swaying branches, my eyes watching the leaves flap and twist in the cool breeze. Leaves. I couldn't believe something like that would instill such fear into me but it did. Laying there on Tandiko, covered in blood, watching the leaves on that tree, I had never been more afraid in my entire life. I don't know how long I spent sprawled out on the dirt, but by the time I finally realized I was still alive, the sun was already starting to make its way back down towards the horizon. My blood soaked body eventually forced itself up and I set a distress signal at my location. Every instinct told me to give up there. To just lay in the dirt and wait for death. But I didn't.

If only I had listened to my gut.


End file.
